March 2013
This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
-window manager. If it does not, please check http://faq.i3wm.org/ first, then
-contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your question(s) on the mailing list.
+window manager. If it does not, please check https://www.reddit.com/r/i3wm/
+first, then contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your question(s) on the
+mailing list.
== Default keybindings
You can also use <<binding_modes>> to define a mode for resizing via the
keyboard. To see an example for this, look at the
-https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/i3.config.keycodes[default config] provided
+https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/etc/config.keycodes[default config] provided
by i3.
=== Restarting i3 inplace
floating windows using the mouse is to right-click on the titlebar and drag.
For resizing floating windows with your keyboard, see the resizing binding mode
-provided by the i3 https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/i3.config.keycodes[default config].
+provided by the i3 https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/etc/config.keycodes[default config].
Floating windows are always on top of tiling windows.
Please note that you must not have +~/.i3/config+, otherwise the wizard will
exit.
+Since i3 4.0, a new configuration format is used. i3 will try to automatically
+detect the format version of a config file based on a few different keywords,
+but if you want to make sure that your config is read with the new format,
+include the following line in your config file:
+
+---------------------
+# i3 config file (v4)
+---------------------
+
=== Comments
It is possible and recommended to use comments in your configuration file to
can configure mouse bindings in a similar way to key bindings.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-bindsym [--release] [--border] [--whole-window] [<Modifiers>+]button<n> command
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+bindsym [--release] [--border] [--whole-window] [--exclude-titlebar] [<Modifiers>+]button<n> command
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By default, the binding will only run when you click on the titlebar of the
window. If the +--release+ flag is given, it will run when the mouse button
of the window is clicked, with the exception of the border. To have a bind run
when the border is clicked, specify the +--border+ flag.
+If the +--exclude-titlebar+ flag is given, the titlebar will not be considered
+for the keybinding.
+
*Examples*:
--------------------------------
# The middle button over a titlebar kills the window
*Example*:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Press $mod+o followed by either f, t, Esc or Return to launch firefox,
+# Press $mod+o followed by either f, t, Escape or Return to launch firefox,
# thunderbird or return to the default mode, respectively.
set $mode_launcher Launch: [f]irefox [t]hunderbird
bindsym $mod+o mode "$mode_launcher"
bindsym f exec firefox
bindsym t exec thunderbird
- bindsym Esc mode "default"
+ bindsym Escape mode "default"
bindsym Return mode "default"
}
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
-=== Hiding vertical borders
+[[_hiding_vertical_borders]]
+=== Hiding borders adjacent to the screen edges
-You can hide vertical borders adjacent to the screen edges using
+You can hide container borders adjacent to the screen edges using
+hide_edge_borders+. This is useful if you are using scrollbars, or do not want
-to waste even two pixels in displayspace. Default is none.
+to waste even two pixels in displayspace. The "smart" setting hides borders on
+workspaces with only one window visible, but keeps them on workspaces with
+multiple windows visible. Default is none.
*Syntax*:
-----------------------------------------------
-hide_edge_borders none|vertical|horizontal|both
+hide_edge_borders none|vertical|horizontal|both|smart
-----------------------------------------------
*Example*:
you should create a little script which generates a configuration file and run
it before starting i3 (for example in your +~/.xsession+ file).
+Also see <<xresources>> to learn how to create variables based on resources
+loaded from the X resource database.
+
+[[xresources]]
+=== X resources
+
+<<variables>> can also be created using a value configured in the X resource
+database. This is useful, for example, to avoid configuring color values within
+the i3 configuration. Instead, the values can be configured, once, in the X
+resource database to achieve an easily maintainable, consistent color theme
+across many X applications.
+
+Defining a resource will load this resource from the resource database and
+assign its value to the specified variable. A fallback must be specified in
+case the resource cannot be loaded from the database.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------------------
+set_from_resource $<name> <resource_name> <fallback>
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+*Example*:
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# The ~/.Xresources should contain a line such as
+# *color0: #121212
+# and must be loaded properly, e.g., by using
+# xrdb ~/.Xresources
+# This value is picked up on by other applications (e.g., the URxvt terminal
+# emulator) and can be used in i3 like this:
+set_from_resource $black i3wm.color0 #000000
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
[[assign_workspace]]
=== Automatically putting clients on specific workspaces
*Syntax*:
------------------------------------------------------------
-assign <criteria> [→] [workspace] <workspace>
+assign <criteria> [→] [workspace] [number] <workspace>
------------------------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
# Assignment to a named workspace
assign [class="^URxvt$"] → work
+# Assign to the workspace with number 2, regardless of name
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → number 2
+
+# You can also specify a number + name. If the workspace with number 2 exists, assign will skip the text part.
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → number "2: work"
+
# Start urxvt -name irssi
assign [class="^URxvt$" instance="^irssi$"] → 3
----------------------
See <<command_chaining>> for details on the special meaning of +;+ (semicolon)
and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3, so you need to use quoted
-strings if they appear in your command.
+strings (as shown in <<exec_quoting>>) if they appear in your command.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------
You can change all colors which i3 uses to draw the window decorations.
*Syntax*:
-------------------------------------------------------
-<colorclass> <border> <background> <text> <indicator>
-------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------------------------------------------
+<colorclass> <border> <background> <text> <indicator> <child_border>
+--------------------------------------------------------------------
Where colorclass can be one of:
Colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb), see the following example:
*Examples (default colors)*:
----------------------------------------------------------
-# class border backgr. text indicator
-client.focused #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff #2e9ef4
-client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff #484e50
-client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888 #292d2e
-client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff #900000
-client.placeholder #000000 #0c0c0c #ffffff #000000
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# class border backgr. text indicator child_border
+client.focused #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff #2e9ef4 #285577
+client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff #484e50 #5f676a
+client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888 #292d2e #222222
+client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff #900000 #900000
+client.placeholder #000000 #0c0c0c #ffffff #000000 #0c0c0c
client.background #ffffff
----------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that for the window decorations, the color around the child window is the
-background color, and the border color is only the two thin lines at the top of
-the window.
+"child_border", and "border" color is only the two thin lines around the
+titlebar.
The indicator color is used for indicating where a new window will be opened.
For horizontal split containers, the right border will be painted in indicator
=== Focus follows mouse
-By default, window focus follows your mouse movements. However, if you have a
-setup where your mouse usually is in your way (like a touchpad on your laptop
-which you do not want to disable completely), you might want to disable 'focus
-follows mouse' and control focus only by using your keyboard. The mouse will
-still be useful inside the currently active window (for example to click on
-links in your browser window).
+By default, window focus follows your mouse movements as the mouse crosses
+window borders. However, if you have a setup where your mouse usually is in your
+way (like a touchpad on your laptop which you do not want to disable
+completely), you might want to disable 'focus follows mouse' and control focus
+only by using your keyboard. The mouse will still be useful inside the
+currently active window (for example to click on links in your browser window).
*Syntax*:
--------------------------
[[show_marks]]
=== Drawing marks on window decoration
-If activated, marks on windows are drawn in their window decoration. However,
-any mark starting with an underscore in its name (+_+) will not be drawn even if
-this option is activated.
+If activated, marks (see <<vim_like_marks>>) on windows are drawn in their window
+decoration. However, any mark starting with an underscore in its name (+_+) will
+not be drawn even if this option is activated.
The default for this option is +yes+.
Config files support line continuation, meaning when you end a line in a
backslash character (`\`), the line-break will be ignored by the parser. This
feature can be used to create more readable configuration files.
+Commented lines are not continued.
*Examples*:
-------------------
bindsym Mod1+f \
fullscreen toggle
+
+# this line is not continued \
+bindsym Mod1+F fullscreen toggle
-------------------
== Configuring i3bar
-------------------------
mode dock|hide|invisible
hidden_state hide|show
-modifier <Modifier>
+modifier <Modifier>|none
------------------------
*Example*:
}
----------------
-Available modifiers are Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control (see +xmodmap(1)+).
+Available modifiers are Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control (see +xmodmap(1)+). You can
+also use "none" if you don't want any modifier to trigger this behavior.
=== Mouse button commands
*Syntax*:
---------------
-output <output>
+output primary|<output>
---------------
*Example*:
statusline #ffffff
}
}
+
+# show bar on the primary monitor and on HDMI2
+bar {
+ output primary
+ output HDMI2
+ status_command i3status
+}
+
-------------------------------
+Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
+-------------------------
+xrandr --output <output> --primary
+-------------------------
=== Tray output
You can configure on which output (monitor) the icons should be displayed or
you can turn off the functionality entirely.
+You can use multiple +tray_output+ directives in your config to specify a list
+of outputs on which you want the tray to appear. The first available output in
+that list as defined by the order of the directives will be used for the tray
+output.
+
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------
tray_output none|primary|<output>
Text color to be used for the statusline.
separator::
Text color to be used for the separator.
+focused_background::
+ Background color of the bar on the currently focused monitor output. If
+ not used, the color will be taken from +background+.
+focused_statusline::
+ Text color to be used for the statusline on the currently focused
+ monitor output. If not used, the color will be taken from +statusline+.
+focused_separator::
+ Text color to be used for the separator on the currently focused
+ monitor output. If not used, the color will be taken from +separator+.
focused_workspace::
Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
has focus.
# enable floating mode and move container to workspace 4
for_window [class="^evil-app$"] floating enable, move container to workspace 4
+
+# move all floating windows to the scratchpad
+bindsym $mod+x [floating] move scratchpad
------------------------------------
The criteria which are currently implemented are:
window_type::
Compare the window type (_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE). Possible values are
+normal+, +dialog+, +utility+, +toolbar+, +splash+, +menu+, +dropdown_menu+,
- +popup_menu+ and +tooltip+.
+ +popup_menu+, +tooltip+ and +notification+.
id::
Compares the X11 window ID, which you can get via +xwininfo+ for example.
title::
Compares the i3-internal container ID, which you can get via the IPC
interface. Handy for scripting. Use the special value +\_\_focused__+
to match only the currently focused window.
+floating::
+ Only matches floating windows. This criterion requires no value.
+tiling::
+ Only matches tiling windows. This criterion requires no value.
The criteria +class+, +instance+, +role+, +title+, +workspace+ and +mark+ are
actually regular expressions (PCRE). See +pcresyntax(3)+ or +perldoc perlre+ for
See <<command_chaining>> for details on the special meaning of +;+ (semicolon)
and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3, so you need to use quoted
-strings if they appear in your command.
+strings (as shown in <<exec_quoting>>) if they appear in your command.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------
and Qt using applications seem to be, though), you will end up with a watch
cursor for 60 seconds.
+[[exec_quoting]]
+If the command to be executed contains a +;+ (semicolon) and/or a +,+ (comma),
+the entire command must be quoted. For example, to have a keybinding for the
+shell command +notify-send Hello, i3+, you would add an entry to your
+configuration file like this:
+
+*Example*:
+------------------------------
+# Execute a command with a comma in it
+bindsym $mod+p exec "notify-send Hello, i3"
+------------------------------
+
+If however a command with a comma and/or semicolon itself requires quotes, you
+must escape the internal quotation marks with double backslashes, like this:
+
+*Example*:
+------------------------------
+# Execute a command with a comma, semicolon and internal quotes
+bindsym $mod+p exec "notify-send \\"Hello, i3; from $USER\\""
+------------------------------
+
=== Splitting containers
The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers
If you apply this command to a split container with the same orientation,
nothing will happen. If you use a different orientation, the split container’s
-orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window). Use
-+layout toggle split+ to change the layout of any split container from splitv
-to splith or vice-versa.
+orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window).
+The +toggle+ option will toggle the orientation of the split container if it
+contains a single window. Otherwise it makes the current window a split
+container with opposite orientation compared to the parent container.
+Use +layout toggle split+ to change the layout of any split container from
+splitv to splith or vice-versa. You can also define a custom sequence of layouts
+to cycle through with +layout toggle+, see <<manipulating_layout>>.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------
-split vertical|horizontal
--------------------------
+--------------------------------
+split vertical|horizontal|toggle
+--------------------------------
*Example*:
-------------------------------
+-------------------------------
bindsym $mod+v split vertical
bindsym $mod+h split horizontal
-------------------------------
+bindsym $mod+t split toggle
+-------------------------------
=== Manipulating layout
or +layout splith+ to change the current container layout to splith/splitv,
stacking, tabbed layout, splitv or splith, respectively.
+Specify up to four layouts after +layout toggle+ to cycle through them. Every
+time the command is executed, the layout specified after the currently active
+one will be applied. If the currently active layout is not in the list, the
+first layout in the list will be activated.
+
To make the current window (!) fullscreen, use +fullscreen enable+ (or
+fullscreen enable global+ for the global mode), to leave either fullscreen
mode use +fullscreen disable+, and to toggle between these two states use
--------------------------------------------
layout default|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith
layout toggle [split|all]
+layout toggle [split|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith] [split|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith]…
--------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
# Toggle between stacking/tabbed/splith/splitv:
bindsym $mod+x layout toggle all
+# Toggle between stacking/tabbed/splith:
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle stacking tabbed splith
+
+# Toggle between splitv/tabbed
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle splitv tabbed
+
+# Toggle between last split layout/tabbed/stacking
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle split tabbed stacking
+
# Toggle fullscreen
bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle
----------------------------------------------
focus left|right|down|up
focus parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle
-focus output left|right|up|down|<output>
+focus output left|right|up|down|primary|<output>
----------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
# Focus the big output
bindsym $mod+x focus output HDMI-2
+
+# Focus the primary output
+bindsym $mod+x focus output primary
-------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------------
+Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
+-------------------------
+xrandr --output <output> --primary
+-------------------------
+
=== Moving containers
Use the +move+ command to move a container.
# Moves the container either to a specific location
# or to the center of the screen. If 'absolute' is
# used, it is moved to the center of all outputs.
-move [absolute] position [[<px> px] [<px> px]|center]
+move [absolute] position <pos_x> [px] <pos_y> [px]
+move [absolute] position center
# Moves the container to the current position of the
# mouse cursor. Only affects floating containers.
bindsym $mod+m move position mouse
-------------------------------------------------------
+=== Swapping containers
+
+Two containers can be swapped (i.e., move to each other's position) by using
+the +swap+ command. They will assume the position and geometry of the container
+they are swapped with.
+
+The first container to participate in the swapping can be selected through the
+normal command criteria process with the focused window being the usual
+fallback if no criteria are specified. The second container can be selected
+using one of the following methods:
+
++id+:: The X11 window ID of a client window.
++con_id+:: The i3 container ID of a container.
++mark+:: A container with the specified mark, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
+
+Note that swapping does not work with all containers. Most notably, swapping
+floating containers or containers that have a parent-child relationship to one
+another does not work.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------
+swap container with id|con_id|mark <arg>
+----------------------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Swaps the focused container with the container marked »swapee«.
+swap container with mark swapee
+
+# Swaps container marked »A« and »B«
+[con_mark="^A$"] swap container with mark B
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
+
=== Sticky floating windows
If you want a window to stick to the glass, i.e., have it stay on screen even
workspace using +move container to workspace back_and_forth+.
*Syntax*:
------------------------------------
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
workspace next|prev|next_on_output|prev_on_output
workspace back_and_forth
workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] <name>
workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] number <name>
-move [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
-move [window|container] [to] workspace number <name>
+move [--no-auto-back-and-forth] [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
+move [--no-auto-back-and-forth] [window|container] [to] workspace number <name>
move [window|container] [to] workspace prev|next|current
------------------------------------
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
-------------------------
bindsym $mod+r exec i3-input -F 'rename workspace to "%s"' -P 'New name: '
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+If you want to rename workspaces on demand while keeping the navigation stable,
+you can use a setup like this:
+
+*Example*:
+-------------------------
+bindsym $mod+1 workspace number "1: www"
+bindsym $mod+2 workspace number "2: mail"
+...
+-------------------------
+
+If a workspace does not exist, the command +workspace number "1: mail"+ will
+create workspace "1: mail".
+
+If a workspace with number 1 does already exist, the command will switch to this
+workspace and ignore the text part. So even when the workspace has been renamed
+to "1: web", the above command will still switch to it.
+
=== Moving workspaces to a different screen
See <<move_to_outputs>> for how to move a container/workspace to a different
RandR output.
[[move_to_outputs]]
+[[_moving_containers_workspaces_to_randr_outputs]]
=== Moving containers/workspaces to RandR outputs
To move a container to another RandR output (addressed by names like +LVDS1+ or
+right+, +up+ or +down+), there are two commands:
*Syntax*:
-----------------------------------------------------
-move container to output left|right|down|up|<output>
-move workspace to output left|right|down|up|<output>
-----------------------------------------------------
+------------------------------------------------------------
+move container to output left|right|down|up|current|primary|<output>
+move workspace to output left|right|down|up|current|primary|<output>
+------------------------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
--------------------------------------------------------
# Put this window on the presentation output.
bindsym $mod+x move container to output VGA1
+
+# Put this window on the primary output.
+bindsym $mod+x move container to output primary
--------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------------
+Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
+-------------------------
+xrandr --output <output> --primary
+-------------------------
+
=== Moving containers/windows to marks
To move a container to another container with a specific mark (see <<vim_like_marks>>),
It is recommended to define bindings for resizing in a dedicated binding mode.
See <<binding_modes>> and the example in the i3
-https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/i3.config.keycodes[default config] for more
+https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/etc/config.keycodes[default config] for more
context.
*Example*:
---------------------------------------
Alternatively, if you do not want to mess with +i3-input+, you could create
-seperate bindings for a specific set of labels and then only use those labels.
+separate bindings for a specific set of labels and then only use those labels.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[[pango_markup]]
and the following placeholders which will be replaced:
+%title+::
- The X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME as fallback).
+ For normal windows, this is the X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME
+ as fallback). When used on containers without a window (e.g., a split
+ container inside a tabbed/stacked layout), this will be the tree
+ representation of the container (e.g., "H[xterm xterm]").
+%class+::
The X11 window class (second part of WM_CLASS). This corresponds to the
+class+ criterion, see <<command_criteria>>.
There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles.
+Note that "pixel" refers to logical pixel. On HiDPI displays, a logical pixel
+may be represented by multiple physical pixels, so +pixel 1+ might not
+necessarily translate into a single pixel row wide border.
+
*Syntax*:
-----------------------------------------------
border normal|pixel [<n>]
track of which window you put where. Thus, you can use vim-like marks to
quickly switch between windows. See <<vim_like_marks>>.
4. For information on how to move existing workspaces between monitors,
- see <<_moving_containers_workspaces_to_randr_outputs>>.
+ see <<move_to_outputs>>.
== i3 and the rest of your software world
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff